What is GIA?

The Vermont Governor's Institute on the Arts is a 2 week intensive program for high school students! Our 2015 session runs from June 28 through July 12 on the campus of Castleton State College, and is open to current juniors, sophomores, and freshmen. Apply now!

This Institute is a lively artistic community, bringing together outstanding professional teaching artists and curious, motivated students to explore the process of creativity. The approach is one of exploration and refining artistic processes, rather than that of a conservatory. It is the largest Institute conducted by The Governor’s Institutes of Vermont*, enrolling about 130 students each year.

Designed to celebrate and explore the creative experience, a typical day contains time for community chorus, a morning class and an afternoon class (each running the entire two weeks, focusing on a particular discipline such as dance, writing, theater, music, visual art, and more), workshops led by students, staff and faculty, as well as time to hang out and get to know other peer artists from around the state. In addition, visiting artists give seminars and workshops, and the evening Artist Series introduces students to locally- and nationally-known artists.

Check out the GIV website to learn about all of the Institutes or to make a donation:

Our Mission:

We seek to enrich the lives of a diverse group of Vermont high school students by providing a positive, empowering learning environment that engenders artistic growth and an awareness of how to work together in a community.

By challenging students to take risks and view familiar subjects in new ways, we encourage growth in three specific areas:

the creation of…1) art for art’s sake 2) art in relation/reference to the world3) art as a member of an artistic community

GIA strives to offer classes unlikely to appear in VT high schools’ art curricula while providing students the opportunity to study and collaborate with professional artists and their peers in these diverse fields.